---
title: Microsoft Access
sidebarTitle: Microsoft Access
---

This is the implementation of the Microsoft Access data handler for MindsDB.

[Microsoft Access](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/access) is a pseudo-relational database engine from Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications that also includes Word, Outlook, and Excel, among others. Access is also available for purchase as a stand-alone product. It uses the Jet Database Engine for data storage.

## Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

1. Install MindsDB [locally via Docker](https://docs.mindsdb.com/setup/self-hosted/docker) or use [MindsDB Cloud](https://cloud.mindsdb.com/).
2. To connect Microsoft Access to MindsDB, install the required dependencies following [this instruction](/setup/self-hosted/docker#install-dependencies).
3. Install or ensure access to Microsoft Access.

## Implementation

This handler is implemented using `pyodbc`, the Python ODBC bridge.

The only required argument to establish a connection is `db_file` that points to a database file to be queried.

## Usage

In order to make use of this handler and connect to the Access database in MindsDB, the following syntax can be used:

```sql
CREATE DATABASE access_datasource
WITH
    engine = 'access',
    parameters = {
      "db_file":"C:\\Users\\minurap\\Documents\\example_db.accdb"
    };
```

You can use this established connection to query your table as follows:

```sql
SELECT *
FROM access_datasource.example_tbl;
```
